Friday, July 23, 2010

I swear this recent sock-knitting binge is going to end soon, I mean it has to, doesn't it? I was looking through my stash and figured I could eek out a pair of anklets from the leftovers of my Endpaper Mitts project. The pattern is the Pom Pom Peds knit up in Valley Yarn's Huntington. I was so concerned that I was going to run out of the grey that I started the toe on the first sock a bit early and the sock is a teensy bit short. And did I run out of yarn, noooo, of course there's still some leftover.

I then had to decide on what to cast on next. I was on ravelry playing around with all the new pattern categories and found this super simple crochet necklace. I dug down into the big old Rubbermaid tub of stash and found this bag of gold and silver metallic yarns that my grandma had given me. To put in perspective how long this stuff has been kicking around her place I am pretty certain some of the thicker gold yarn was used to make my Barbie a very fabulous skirt/sweater set with matching set of luggage. In the bag there was some thin silver almost thread weight yarn and with some beads from the bead stash, voila! a super simple necklace made up of three strands. I like it so much I can actually see myself wearing it out of the house (I have a bad tendency to make jewelry and then never wear it - stupid, stupid, stupid). Anyway, I am pretty glad to have actually use some of grandma's yarn - she will be thrilled to know I got some use out of it.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Hi, I would have written this post sooner but it's been hot and humid and sticky and icky for quite a few days now and I don't deal with heat all that well sometimes. It makes me cranky and sleep funny and I forget to eat and then get crankier and a bit woozy because I forgot to eat. I am also pretty sure a large portion of my blood stream has been replaced with a mix of iced coffee and iced tea. Yes, I realize that the large intake of iced caffeinated beverages may have something to do with the sleeping funny thing but we'll ignore that for now -I am pretty sure logic does not survive in high humidity. But today is cooler and my CSA veggies have been washed and tucked in to their crispers so now I can post.

I spent the 4th of July weekend up in Maine. Luckily I was not told about the recent bear sighting on my folks front lawn until after I was already up there or I may have begged off. It was one of those "Didn't we tell you about the bear? Your brother knows about the bear." I get to hear about the trip to Costco so my Dad can get white fish but they forget to mention a bear!! Apparently some crankiness lingers....maybe I should have another iced coffee. Anyway....I saw no bears just the usual finch and chickadees and a special treat.

A robin had build her nest on the edge of the garage and we spend the first few days checking up her three baby birdies, we watched Mama come by with some tasty food, and then them venturing out on the ledge and stretching their wings. But when we woke up on the 4th we discovered two of the birdies had their own independence day of sorts and had taken off. Leaving just one little birdie, sulking that he had been left all alone.

Don't worry by the end of the day he too had left to join his Mama and siblings up in the trees somewhere.

Back in knitting news, I finished up yet another pair of socks. Seriously, they are the crack of the knitting world. I may need an intervention. This time it's Spring Forward knit in TOFUtsies. I think a solid colorway may show off the pattern better but I since this is mainly a non-wool yarn I am excited that I may actually be able to wear a pair of my hand-knit socks sometime before October although clearly not for a while.

Here my sock takes in the view of the lake from the deck. Trust me there's a lake out there past the trees.

My friend Lisa came back from Maryland Sheep and Wool a few months back with beautiful raw silk from Tess Designer Yarns and cast on right away to knit Summit. Turns out they have a retail shop in Portland. Cut to me spending a large amount of time admiring the beautiful colors and chatting away with the dyer herself (not Tess by the way), Melinda. I really went in with the mindset to buy some of the raw silk to knit up Summit myself since I just adore the pattern and have had it queued since it that edition of knitty came out. But somehow I ended up with this GORGEOUS 100% silk in this fabulous brass colorway as a belated b-day gift from my mom. It has less yardage than the raw silk so I may make a smaller version of Summit or find another pattern or just clutch it close to me muttering "precious" as I did for the first few hours after I got it. Really the picture does not do it justice it is luminous and so amazing to touch.....